Daniel may be star of the show

Missouri is the Show-Me State, so show me Chase Daniel for the Heisman Trophy.

Are you kidding? Actually, no, it’s not even remotely a joke anymore, not after Daniel blistered Texas A&M; last week by passing for 352 yards and three touchdowns.

Daniel isn’t exactly unknown, not with Missouri’s 9-1 record. Even though he’s a junior, Daniel was placed this week on the Heisman’s short list of potential invitees to New York for the award next month.

If we’ve learned anything this BCS year, anything can happen, so the Heisman race probably isn’t immune.

Most speculation on the Heisman favorite revolves around Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon (but he’s hurt), Florida quarterback Tim Tebow (but he’s a sophomore) and Arkansas running back Darren McFadden (but the Razorbacks are 6-4 after losing to Tennessee).

Now, Daniel is getting a late push.

He’s got the stuff, with 26 touchdown passes, ranking in the top five in the NCAA in five major statistical categories: total offense, completions, completion percentage, yards passing and yards passing per game.

More Daniel

The Tigers, No. 5 in the BCS, have scored at least 30 points in 12 straight games with Daniel at the helm.

Said Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel: “I don’t know if he’s the best quarterback in the country, but somebody’s got to show me who’s better than him.”

Trivia time

How did the huddle originate in football?

Chalk talk

When Bum Phillips was at the helm of the Houston Oilers, he often said there were two kinds of head coaches in the NFL: “Them that’s fired and them that’s gonna be fired.”

Firing coaches is always a work in progress and that might be true as a result of this NFL season too. The generally accepted short list of coaches in trouble includes Andy Reid of the Philadelphia Eagles, Brad Childress of the Minnesota Vikings, Brian Billick of the Baltimore Ravens and even Norv Turner of the San Diego Chargers.

According to Michael Ventre of MSNBC, Reid might be sitting on the hottest seat with the Eagles.

Said Ventre: “They’re slipping into mediocrity at 4-5. And not only mediocrity, but NFL mediocrity, which is the worst kind.”

Oh, baby

We know the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland A’s will play a couple of games to open the 2008 season next March in Tokyo, and it couldn’t have been easy to figure out how to make the schedule work.

Here’s another scheduling item someone might struggle to make work: Red Sox pitcher and Japanese native Daisuke Matsuzaka’s second child is due around that time.

Beep beep

Remember the car -- a 2006 Chrysler 300M -- that Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez listed on EBay? It sold, for $42,600, nearly $10,000 more than its Blue Book value.

All talk

Veteran sportscaster Marv Albert, rarely at a loss for words, told SportsBusiness Daily his all-interview team, also rarely at a loss for words: Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, Tom Lasorda, Warren Sapp and Phil Jackson.

Trivia answer

Many credit legendary coach Amos Alonzo Stagg in a game played Nov. 26, 1896, at the Chicago Coliseum, where Chicago defeated Michigan, 7-6. Stagg instructed his Chicago players to call plays about 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage and to put their arms over each other’s shoulders because of the noise of the indoor arena.

And finally

Fresh off their second World Series title in four years, the Red Sox are increasing the prices of season tickets by about 9% next season. The Sox project $40 million-$50 million will be spent to improve Fenway Park in 2008.

Season-ticket holder Steve Garvin told the Boston Globe he doesn’t have a problem with the rate hike, but it’s not about Fenway Park.

Said Garvin: “As long as they find better players, I’m all in favor of it.”

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com